§ MR. F. S. STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether he has any information with regard to the Iradé, recently signed by the Sultan, but not hitherto promulgated, the effect of which would be to bring about the expulsion of Christian missionaries from Asiatic Turkey, and to interfere with the administration of relief?
MR. CURZONHer Majesty's Vice Consul at Mush telegraphed on the 27th ultimo that the local authorities in virtue of an Imperial Iradé had required all missionaries to leave Asia Minor at once viâ Alexandretta. In reply to representations made by Sir Philip Currie, His Excellency was informed that the terms of the Iradé did not specifically refer to 748 the missionaries, but merely to persons implicated in seditious movements, and that the missionaries would not be in any way molested so long as they conformed to the laws of the country. The United States Chargé d'Affaires, who also made representations on the subject, was informed that the Iradé had been repealed.
§ *MR. F. A. CHANNINGasked whether it was not the case that Mr. Knapp, one of the missionaries, had been expelled from Bitlis?